For many decades, carpet has been the floor covering of choice for improving both the aesthetics and comfort of rooms in commercial buildings and residential homes. Though very pleasing in appearance and hand when new, the carpet over time inevitably is stained by foods and beverages and also becomes discolored due to soil pick-up caused by foot traffic. Various treatments have been applied to carpet to minimize the effect of these assaults. Such treatments include fluoroaliphatic compounds to provide water and oil repellency as well as soil resistance, and stainblockers to prevent adherence to, and a to facilitate release of, stains from polyamide fibers. However, though a treatment may show initial effectiveness, its efficacy gradually diminishes over time, at which point the carpet must be cleaned to restore its initial appearance. Unfortunately, during cleaning, such treatment can be removed from the carpet, leaving the carpet susceptible to accelerated discoloration from staining and soiling.
Various attempts have been made to minimize the detrimental effect cleaning systems have on the future appearance of the carpet (e.g., the loss of effectiveness of carpet treatments). For example, many different compositions have been applied to carpeting as various types of carpet treatments. As examples, some have used chemical compounds such as a number of specific sulfonated polymers, hydrolyzed vinyl aromatic-maleic anhydride polymers, and specific acrylic and olefinic polymers.
Still, there continues to be a need a carpet cleaning system that is essentially free of organic solvents, that can effectively clean carpet and, at that at the same time can provide a cleaned and treated carpet that exhibits stain blocking properties at a level shown by new carpeting.